Netboo.com as seen in 1997
Netbook.com as seen in 1997

Intel has purchased the Netbook.com domain. The page currently redirects users to Intel’s page describing the Intel Atom CPU. The page features a bit of news, some reviews, and information about the Atom processor. 

Just a few short months ago, there was no accepted term for low cost, low power subnotebooks like the Asus Eee PC and HP Mini-Note. Intel favored the term netbook, while competing chip-maker VIA was pushing “mini-notebook.” Whether it’s because there are far fewer VIA-powered machines on the market than Intel the Intel Atom is grabbing all the headlines from the VIA C7-M, or just because netbook is catchier, netbook seems to be winning. Bloggers and journalists have begun using the word as a shortand, and even Best Buy has added a new netbook category to its online store (even if Best Buy’s copy writers don’t seem to understand what a netbook is).

So the Netbook.com domain is probably a pretty valuable property to hold right now. I consulted the Internet Archive’s Wayback machine to take a look at the domain’s history. From 1996 through 2001 or so it was a “directory of people on the internet.” Type in a name, and the netbook would try to spit out an email address and/or URL. How cute.

In 2007, Netbook.com was a site dedicated to information about the Psion Netbook, a handheld computer running the Symbian Operating System that has been out of production for a few years.

There’s no telling what the future holds for Netbook.com. But somehow somehow I doubt you’ll find a lot of information about the VIA Nano CPU or machines utilizing that chip anytime soon.

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3 replies on “Intel buys Netbook.com, web portal coming soon?”

  1. “Whether it’s because there are far fewer VIA-powered machines on the market than Intel…”
    I just have to say: “Please quote your reference”.
    With multiple manufacturers shipping VIA-powered machines, some for nearly
    a year, it is hard to imagine there are far fewer VIA-powered machines, anywhere.

    1. Good point. I don’t actually have a solid number saying how many
      manufacturers are using VIA vs. Intel, or how many units of each are
      shipping. But over the last year Asus, Acer, Dell, Toshiba, LG, Lenovo,
      Samsung, MSI, and practically every major player in the laptop computer
      space with the exception of HP, Apple, and Sony have released or announced
      an Intel Atom powered machine.

      Things may change when the Nano starts popping up in consumer-oriented
      machines. But for now, and especially with companies like Asus projecting
      millions of netbook shipments this year and next, it appears that the word
      “netbook” is winning out at least partially because it’s backed by Intel,
      the company powering many of those machines.

      1. They have around 30 versions of their different system on sale worldwide. Of course based on the C7 but they are definately selling a decent number. f.e. HP is quite happy with their mini-note sales.

        Anyways, hurray to the guy who registered netbook-shop.com back in spring :p

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